1. Technical Field
The present disclosure relates generally to computer system partition stability and more specifically to a method and system for preventing an execution crash of a client logical partition.
2. Description of the Related Art
N_Port identifiers, also known as NPIV, are part of the IEEE Fibre Channel standard. The NPort identifiers allows sharing, of physical Fibre Channel (FC) ports by multiple operating systems or initiators by letting each initiator have its own Worldwide Port Names (WWPNs). An initiator may receive access to logical units (LUNs) through a small computer system interface (SCSI) target port in a Storage Area Network (SAN) by using one or more WWPNs owned by the initiator. This capability architecturally allows multiple operating systems partitions to share a physical port on a FC Adapter. Multiple operating systems partitions may be supported on a Central/Computing Electronic Complex (CEC), or server, that has firmware, and software capabilities to provide SCSI Input/Output (I/O) services to each operating system by virtualizing physical hardware.
To enable NPIV on a managed system such as a CEC, a Virtual I/O Server (VIOS) logical partition is created that provides virtual resources to client logical partitions. The physical fibre channel adapters (that support NPIV) are assigned to the VIOS logical partition. Then, virtual fibre channel adapters (VFCA) are connected on the client logical partitions to server virtual fibre channel adapters on the VIOS logical partition. A virtual fibre channel adapter is a virtual adapter that provides client logical partitions with a fibre channel connection through the VIOS logical partition to a physical storage device of a Storage Area Network (SAN).